#Chasing Embers

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Olivia Little at MMFA:

Right-wing media figure and now teen fiction author Glenn Beck is partnering with Moms for Liberty to place his new novel in public schools. Beck was an early supporter of Moms for Liberty, an anti-LGBTQ “parental rights” organization whose members have advocated for banning books across the country and harassing school officials, and his Blaze Media outlet even has a page on its website dedicated to promoting the group. Notably, Beck is set to speak at the group’s 2024 summit beginning this week. The Moms for Liberty Foundation ran a special campaign in late July as part of its “Moms for Libraries” initiative to place conservative propaganda in school libraries and classrooms, promising that 100% of donations to the foundation would go to putting Chasing Embers, Beck’s premiere teen fiction novel, into public schools. This suggests that the money raised was likely eventually fed to Beck through payouts from his publisher.

According to Beck’s Moms for Libraries page, Chasing Embers is just the first in The Oarsmen series, which “will become a six-book-adventure” — well, “with your support” (money). The Chasing Embers world is boldly described “as complex and exciting as Harry Potter. But, instead of witchcraft,” the book is “powered by our history."

Right-wing extremist “parental rights” group Moms For Liberty is partnering with Blaze Media founder Glenn Beck to place his teen fiction novel Chasing Embers into school libraries. Beck is set to speak at the organization’s Joyful Warriors National Summit this weekend.

[percabethconvos]

Annabeth: I've loved you since before I knew I loved you

Annabeth: Since before I was supposed to love you

Annabeth: And I'll keep loving you every single day

[coatl-cuddles]

Hopeful Steward study in drawpile, because they are my child and I love them

[rene-hl-trashcan]

I'm procrastinating on work and life responsibilities, so here's another group pic but with more MCs I have kidnapped and still keep the presets. 😌😌

Back row : Avania, Sylvia, Gilbert, Allan, Sylvan, Liam, Riz

Front row (short queens) : Mildred, Ember, Johanna, Cariad

It took hours and 3 game crashes. Also, it's totally way past my bedtime rn. Worth it tho👍🏻

I love how Riz is bending but still looks as tall as the other guys. 🤣🤣

Sylvia, Riz, Mildred & Sylvan are mine.

Liam, Avania and Cariad belong to @starry-slithers

Ember and Johanna belong to @ravenwind-75

Allan belongs to @a-usernamelol

Gilbert belongs to @honeybadgerdontcare394

[nerdalmighty]

"Is that a charhound?!" // "That's Ember. She's very friendly."

Ember the charhound makes her television debut in Young Jedi Adventures' "Charhound Chase."

[dandylion240]

“What do you think?” Cecil asked when Eli followed Faba from the room leaving him alone with Morgyn. 

Rubbing his chin thoughtfully Morgyn grunted, “a very clever placebo. I’d like to meet the child who created it.”

“The charm? It has no special properties?” Cecil inquired.

“What?” Morgyn blinked as if his mind had been a million miles away. “No, I wouldn’t say that. There is definitely something special about the charm.”

“But you just said…”

[sinvulkt]

List of some of webtoon and manhwa recs.

First of all I should probably say that my favorite type of stories (so the type you might find in the list bellow) is ’tragedy comedy adventure’ without any romance, but possibly a lot of bromance | tension (ok some BL slipped by me into this list). And rather self destructive mc for the sake of their goal (often to the utter despair of the people who care about them xd). Bring forth conflicts and battles of will and rising against destiny !

@blackhazefanblog I did this for you! It took a while. Even if I think you’ll find the ones in [The Fantasy Kind] are the most likely to have similar vibes to black haze. : D

All summaries are from Baka-Updates or WebtoonLine. The links are either towards WebtoonLine, or towards the original official site (or official english translation if i found it).

The Fantasy Kind

Black Haze (Ongoing)

A long time ago, a portal to another world was opened, and those who acquired special abilities along with marks began to be called mages. After the incident known as "that day", the first-class mage from Ophion, known as "Blow", has become very famous. One day, he receives a very special mission: to protect the second son of the Artian family, who suffers from being called a "monster" at the magic school "Helios"! Thus, Blow enrolls in Helios under the name "Rood Krisch" to hide his true identity...

My all time favorite. I learned english thanks to it < 3. And it just group so many of my favorite tropes in one story ☆.☆

I’m not that kind of talent (Ongoing)

A talented individual who is respected by many and welcomed anywhere? Not at all! A bloodthirsty battle fanatic who knows no defeat? Couldn’t be further from the truth! In reality, Deon Hardt is a sickly human who coughs up blood from receiving the tiniest bit of stress and gets sunburns from standing in the sun for ten minutes. But due to an unfortunate misunderstanding, he becomes “Demon Arut,” the notorious 0th corps commander of the demon army and the demon king’s joker. Caught in a war between humans and demonkind, Deon must find a way to survive!

I discovered that one this year! I love comediy and tragedy mixed together, and that one fully achieved that, from making me laugh to absolutely destroying my heart seriously i am still hurting. Well this is a tragedy. Be warned. But a delicious one. (My heart TT.TT).

The Ember Knight (Ongoing)

When Nagyunn’s twin brother, Najin, is murdered before his very eyes, he vows to avenge his brother’s death by assuming Najin’s identity. But although the two may look alike, when it comes to fighting, Nagyunn lacks the talent and skill his brother possessed. In order to successfully execute his plot for revenge, Nagyunn resolves to train himself to become the prodigious knight-in-training his brother once was. Will Nagyunn be able to keep his identity a secret before others begin to catch on to his act?

Another one I discovered ’recently’ = last year. I absolutely adore the fact that the mc rely fully on wits and bluff. He will never get a cheat skill to get as strong as others- he just has to play his card rights (which happen to be a bunch of overprotective knights wishing he stopped going in front of the blade path). So he gotta bluff. A lot. Including playing betrayal at every corner, and i sure love betrayal :3. That and it’s a revenge story ~

TAL (Complete)

They walk like ordinary people, they talk like ordinary people but in fact there is nothing ordinary about them since they can materialize an image they have on their mind... They call themselves Chachaoong which also means Shaman and they do not know how or when they came to this world. It is now a time for their current king to choose the future one and so he did by choosing Yu Jin an ordinary human...? Many of the Chachaoong can not tolerate a human ruling them and now the poor Yu Jin not knowing what suddenly hit him, is trying to avoid the Chachaoongs who are trying to kill him!

This has been my second favorite after Black Haze for a long time, because I got a soft spot for escapists xd. All the more escapists with consequences catching them back faster than they can run until they’re cornered ☆.☆ Fight until the end against a fate you are doom to surrender to ~ I love it.

Catharsis (Complete)

Fear is a powerful emotion that can end up overtaking one's life. Leon thought he knew that. But when he's thrown into the demonic realm that Catharsis governs over, he'll learn that there is more to “true” fear than he could ever have imagined... But will he learn how to face it?

That one also stayed in my mind for a long time. The ending is more ’open’ than I would have wished, but well, there is no sequel yet so let’s call that an ending. Appart from that i loved the mc, and he has synesthesis which give really cool result in webtoon format (yay colors). In a world where nightmares take physical shape, the mc get attacked by nightmares and end up being recruited by the agency fighting nightmares bcs they feel smthg off about him.

Crepuscule (Complete)

Lark is different from the rest of the kids. He has red eyes, just like Vampires do, and he is bullied by the other kids for it. One day he meets Setz, a genuine Vampire of a Noble clan who is the only one that doesn't call him a monster or bully him. Eventually they become friends, but when Lark finds out he may have to return to the orphanage, Setz decides he does not want to lose his friend, so he invites him to his home... The world of the Vampires.

Another webtoon i grew up with as a teen. It isn’t my all time fav, but i still quite enjoyed it enough to reread it a few times. Must be the blond mc that reminded me of Rood xd. Or the fact that he is super weak in a world of monsters. Or the reason he has those red eyes. (Such delicious angst amidst the comedy). Are those just a trope I enjoy? XD

Godly Bells (Complete)

Divine Bells - they choose their own masters and they determine the status, prestige, and influence of the countries their masters rule. The presence or lack of these Bells also has great consequence in the lives of each country's royalty. In particular, the personal and political futures of King Hong-Ryeong seem doomed without a Bell, but at equally great peril if he obtains one. But are the Divine Bells simple magical charms, deities of great powers, or something else altogether? And when the owner of three of the eight existing Divine Bells dies, leaving them to choose new owners, where will the resulting turmoil lead?

Another blond mc i grew up with as a teen and reread a few time. And another ’king’ who is ’weak’. It’s in a fantasy world, where divine ’bells’ give each king (and thus each country) power. The mc country hasn’t been chosen by any bells for years, so quite look down upon. Until three bells at least or smthg choose the mc. And then they become people, with their own agenda. The mc didn’t want the attention but well can’t convince the bells to drop him xd. Which is why i loved this story. Once again, can’t escape fate even when you didn’t want it ~

Aegis Orta (Complete)

Val is an ordinary high school student who dedicates his life to God. His peaceful days however have to end when he learns about who he really is..

Very much in the same vibe of Godly Bells and Crepuscule, only I discovered it later and thus have less memories of it (bcs reread it less). It’s another blond character with red eyes that get ’fate’ thrown at its face ~ well. Demon powers. Same.

---

I’m not gonna put Mxtx’s works here (Heaven Official Blessing, Mo Dao Zu Shi, Scum Villain Self Saving System), but they’re great too. If you love comedy and tragedy and don’t mind BL too much. Go for it. I usually don’t enjoy romance that much but it didn’t bother me with those works, bcs it’s presented so naturally into the story rather than harassing us every second. Phantom Paradise is also a BL, although entirely different vibe. It’s what would happen with matriarchat instead of patriarchat but all the toxicity remain - only gender roles are reversed. As for why I enjoyed it so much... I guess I am still somewhat sensitive to fan service ? XD

I also feel like I should mention UnderPrin, even if it didn’t make it all the way to my favs, kind of similar vibe to Catharsis and Aegis Orta. I’ll also mention Makai Ouji: Devils and Realist which is a manga but another blond character in the same vibe of the earlier ones, who refuse his own power XD. And Pandora Hearts because its my favorite manga ever. I even prefer it to Black Haze (but I think someone who liked one would also like the other?).

[ember-owlet]

25 days of agere moodboards

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ day 14 : a song that reminds you of regression  -> to the sky ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

♪ Birds-eye view, awake the stars 'cause they're all around you Wide eyes will always brighten the blue Chase your dreams, and remember me, sweet bravery 'Cause after all those wings will take you, up so high So bid the forest floor goodbye as you race the wind And take to the sky (you take to the sky) ♪

[ask-luciavampire]

home

ask by @foodielovethealicorn

fet @asklightningshadowbolt and @anideterm3

[dev-fiction]

My darlings 🥺💖

[ireneispunk]

are y'all ever writing smut and you get 4k words in and they aren't even close to getting at it yet because same

[emberxwilder]

@chascwilliams

LOCATION: all night diner

EVEN IF EMBER NOW had a reason to settle down somewhere -- this didn't stop the restlessness that had once engulfed her from reigniting every now and then. in those days, the blonde found herself settling down either at the reef or four leaf.. but when she wasn't in the mood for a drink or painful conversations, she found herself in the same booth of the diner.

it gave her a sense of routine, when for so many years -- she had found herself doing nothing but running.

ember wasn't sure when her feet became too tired. when she had finally allowed herself to be known, opened herself up to connections that would become deeper as the days, no, seconds went by. and the familiar desire to run goes from a spark to a wildfire as her attention is caught by the sound of the bell over the door marking the arrival of the diners latest patron.

no. fucking. way.

she remembers the girl she was when she met him -- already singed by the world, but not yet burned.

" well i'll be... " the blonde murmurs in disbelief, lips pursed as she tried to think of what to say next. to swallow the loss she thought she had long since drowned. there was nothing more lethal than pride, and it had been the only weapon that ember had ever known. " chase williams. " his name falls over her tongue just as easily as it did when they were teens, but it holds a sense of pain that is a little too familiar for her liking.

even if her words are weaker than he may be familiar with, lacking her trademark confidence -- they still hold the same playful snark.

" this world really ain't big enough for the two of us, now is it? "

[carmen-fics-for-thee]

Remember

Summary: As Paper Star reflects on her past, she decides to play Carmen in a different way. After all, if Paper Star's heart is broken, why should everyone else not suffer like her? With Chase's heart on the line, and Carmen's heart clouded by vulnerability, can she realize what's really going on or will the villain win?

...

They were in Peru, full of fields of grass and trees everywhere by the side of the dirt road. Paper Star was on a hay bail truck. She was waiting for Carmen.

Narrowing her eyes, Paper Star spotted Carmen dashing across a field and hiding in a tree. Behind her, Devineaux was in hot pursuit. He shouted, "Aha!" and started climbing. Paper Star was humming her little song, but stopped at seeing this. Hmm...

Hopping down from the hay bail she was on, she approached them.

"Well, well, well..."

Carmen looked down at her and gulped.

"Not you again!"

Paper star started folding some stars. But she threw only one. It landed in Devineaux's arm sharply, sticking.

"AH! Curse you!" He cried.

Glaring at Paper Star, Carmen went to help Devineaux. She looked at him kindly, assuring him she'd help and pulled out the star. Then she told him to apply pressure to the wound. He did so, hissing with pain. Looking the "star" over, Carmen found it was red and pink and shaped like a broken heart. Paper Star grinned smugly.

"Oh no! A bad omen. Well, guess I'd better be on my way!"

Carmen trembled with rage.

"Come back here!"

...

Paper Star didn't like to talk about it. It would bring too much pain.

As a teenager, she'd dated her classmate. His name was Jamie. He told her he loved her; but then he'd professed his love to another girl in front of the whole class. The other kids mocked her, knowing she and Jamie used to be together. The pain cut deep, slashing her heart to pieces.

Paper Star worked tirelessly to get her revenge. She folded papers so sharp until they cut her own fingers, making them bleed. It was painful. That gave her an idea.

She'd trained so hard to be the best origami ninja in the world. And one day, she'd take her revenge on Jamie, as well as all the other bleeding hearts.

Jamie had truly been made to be sorry for what he did. His hands had to be bandaged in the hospital. And that other girl? Well, let's just say her pretty body wouldn't be going swimming anytime soon.

Whenever Paper Star saw couples walking in the street, she wretched in disgust.

Valentine's Day was the worst. All this celebration, and for what? Something she'd lost, and never found since that fateful day. It was stupid anyways, to think that a boy wouldn't break your heart if he saw a prettier girl.

All this pain made her madder. She began folding more broken paper hearts.

...

Chase had wrapped his arm thanks to his first aid kit.

With what had that random woman attacked him?! And why?!

Carmen had shown him the paper heart, looking worried.

"Hah! I do not believe in superstitions. My heart was already broken a long time ago." He said, recalling his ex-wife.

"What do you mean...?" She said sadly. So Chase told her about Edna.

He and his wife had gotten together as an office romance, as tensions heated up and she needed some cheering up about her poor work performance. After that, they'd started dating. Their marriage was relatively happy, until one day she told him she didn't love him anymore. There was no one else, she just grew tired of him. The divorce had hardened him; from then on he put on a tough outer shell. Something that would not break easily.

Carmen put a hand on his shoulder, and offered a hug. He accepted. It was a fairly loose hug. He wanted to make sure she knew she could run away if she wanted. That it wasn't some sort of trick to catch her. Carmen kept her eyes open for the most part, hoping this was a good idea. When she realized how softly she was being held, she let out a sigh and closed her eyes.

Paper star watched them with her binoculars. This was easier than she'd thought.

As she watched Carmen leave the hospital, she threw more broken heart paper stars at her. Carmen dodged, running away.

"What's your deal?!" She shouted.

Laughing, Paper Star showed Carmen to the limo that VILE had sent. Confused, Carmen saw Grey step out of the limo.

"Grey?" She said, running up to him. "Is that really you...?"

She'd been so worried about her big bro, she studied him carefully, hoping he wasn't under VILE's mind control.

"Carmen," he said with relief. Looking around, he glared at Paper Star. "She told me you were in danger."

"Huh? No." She said, fidgeting with her hands. "I'm fine. But are you fine?"

He nodded. "Don't worry, Carmen. They undid the effects of The Wiper... I remember everything."

She shook her head. "Why...?"

Carmen wanted to believe this was real. But there was no way this wasn't a trap of some sort. No way would VILE actually do something so nice without a catch. Paper star grinned.

"Well, Black Sheep...? It's okay, we removed any weapons from him. He's not a threat."

She grew angry.

"Yeah, so he wouldn't be a threat to you!"

Paper Star threw more broken heart stars at them.

"Carmen, quick!" Grey pulled her away and they ran for cover. Strangely Paper Star didn't follow them. They stopped by a school. It was quiet. "Carmen, I missed you."

"Graham. I-I don't know what to say. How?"

He shrugged. "I don't know Carmen. But I don't trust VILE. Paper Star is trying to execute some sort of evil plan, but I don't know what. Maybe it has to do with her um, paper hearts?"

Picking up the one from her bag, Carmen studied it worriedly.

"Maybe... Maybe it's a riddle of some sort. Perhaps there's a museum with a broken heart jewel somewhere around here? ... I'll call Player real quick."

Grey looked at Carmen curiously. After spending so much time away from her, he felt really bad about deserting her for the academy. He wasn't going to throw away his dreams, but in hindsight maybe being held back for a year would have been worth it so he could watch over Carmen. Maybe he could make it up to her somehow. Abandoning her was always the thing he regretted most.

After being on the phone for a while with Player, Carmen frowned. There was apparently no broken heart jewel around the area. The nearest museum was within 200 miles from here. Then what did Paper Star and her possible henchmen want?

Her heart dropped.

"Chase. I think VILE wants to hurt him again! Devineaux!" She said, panicked. Looking around, she grabbed Graham's hand and rushed back into the hospital.

"Woah, are you sure?!"

She nodded. "For some reason when we first encountered Paper Star, she threw the broken heart at him, not me."

"Why would she do that?" Grey said. And then it hit him. "Carmen." He stopped, tugging on her hand to make her stop too. "I know why. It's your kind heart. You worry about people a lot... She wanted to hurt both of you; two birds, one stone."

"Oh." She sighed. Yeah, that made sense.

Graham frowned. "I wouldn't go to that hospital room if I were you. Paper Star set this up for a reason. I think I know what her plan is, and you WILL hurt Devineaux if you go see him with me."

She stopped and thought about it. Examining her feelings, she realized what they had together. How much closer she'd gotten to Devineaux since they'd first met. And how seeing her with another man would break his heart... even if she tries to explain. That would explain the broken paper hearts. It was diabolical, it was VILE's M. O.. Yeah, it made sense.

"What do I do, then? I don't want to lose either of you. If I go check on him without you, VILE might drag you away again..."

He nodded.

"I understand. But I refuse to be their pawn anymore. I refuse to let them use me to hurt another man, especially an innocent."

"Good man." She patted his arm.

Grey smiled, thinking about their possible options.

...

Paper Star growled. What was taking them so long? She had her operative posed as a nurse and filming the reaction.

Chase grew uncomfortable and demanded more bedsheets. The nurse looked done with it all, but she left the room nonetheless. Didn't want to raise suspicion. Devineaux sighed with relief when she'd gone away.

He had a feeling that his heart was about to be broken due to an evil plan poised by a psycho villain, for some reason. Hah! Didn't they know that Chase Devineaux wasn't born yesterday?! Of course he'd been suspecting it, which was why he'd gotten the nurse to leave.

A person he wasn't expecting entered the room.

"You!" He shouted in surprise, nearly knocking over the bedside table to reach him. "I know you!! From the train!"

Gray put his hands up in defense.

"Wait, wait! It's not what you think! I-I'm a good guy now!"

Chase growled. "Prove it!"

He shook with disgust, yet he wanted to do him the honour of telling the truth. It was the least he could do.

"Inspector, I'm sorry. I was a huge jerk." He looked away. "But I want to make it up to you. There's these guys, VILE... They like to play with the people Carmen likes. They want to hurt her heart as much as possible..."

He frowned. "That explains the broken hearts..."

"Yeah..." Grey said. He walked over to him and sat down in the chair next to him. "Inspector. These people, they don't play fair. ... They wanted to make sure your heart was broken today. I figured out their plan. I refused to let them hurt you."

Confused, he raised an eyebrow. "Thank you...?"

Grey shrugged. "Blame Carmen. She has this way of softening people up." He gave a half-smile.

Laughing, Devineaux stuck out his hand. Grey shook it.

"That she does, Mister...?"

"Graham. But you can call me Grey."

...

In her room full of torn up coloured paper stars, Paper Star sobbed into a pillow.

It wasn't fair! Why did others get to be happy, and not her!?

Sure, she was a little psychotic, and wasn't afraid to use violence and manipulation to get what she wanted. What did it matter though?! Why couldn't she be loved the way that people loved Carmen?

Her mascara ran all over her face.

Maybe she'd be loved by a man one day, but by then she'd no longer be young and beautiful...

Grabbing her teddy bear, she cuddled it and curled onto her side in bed.

It just wasn't fair...

...

Carmen dropped off her gift of a bouquet of red roses for Chase on his doorstep, along with the returned items she stole back. It was always her way of saying, "you're welcome" to both him and Julia. She'd always thought nothing of it.

And yet now when she did it, it felt different. Like it meant something a little more.

She rang the doorbell, and heard his footsteps approach. His gruff, French-accented voice called out.

"Hello?! Who is there?!"

Her eyes wavered, and she tipped her hat to him before disappearing once more into the shadows.

[tarmac-rat]

.

[rene-hl-trashcan]

@starryslytherin0, @ravenwind-75

Our babies in a group pic. 😆😆

Top row, from left : Mildred, Avania, Johanna, Sylvia

Bottom row, from left : Ember, Cariad

**Sylvia and Mildred are my MCs. Avania and Cariad are @starryslytherin0's MCs. Johanna and Ember are @ravenwind-75's MCs.

I told you I'm on my villain arc kidnapping other people's MCs to befriend mine. (─‿‿─)

[idunnthedwarrowdam]

Following the embers

Idunn looked around in what felt like a frantic manner. Her dress was pretty to look at but the fabric made her skin crawl, the dress was far as one could get in her opinion from practical, while also feeling as if it was suffocating her. Her family was somewhere around the gigantic room that was holding some sort of celebration that the adults had decided merited a ball. She couldn’t even remember what the specific occasion was; She had been distracted when they were prepared for it by the riddle Runa had asked her that she had been pondering.

She spotted her father off to one side talking with one of his friends, one that he had fought at Azanulbizar with, while Edain was farther down the hall looking slightly flushed from the obvious ribbing his friends were giving him. Glain and Tofferi, her One whom was courting her, were on what could only be described as the dance floor.

She had always hated these sorts of things. no one ever asked her to dance aside from Edain, knowing she loved to dance, and Tofferi, also knowing her love of dancing but also because he was kind. he also knew them getting along would make Glain very happy even if it wasn’t a hardship to him to dance with his One’s sister who was generally friendly with him.

Unlike most celebrations, this one was one typically held only for those that could be considered nobles, even if most of the nobility had to live and work just as hard as everyone else. Idunn and her family were only allowed because her Aunt Freyja had married Gloin who was distantly related to the king.

She hated the stuffiness and rules of talking of it all. it all felt fake which she hated more than anything else. how was she suppose to know if someone was being polite because they had to or because they actually liked her? She was almost certain at least half of these people were two-faced toward at least her if not Glain as well.

Her eyes landed on Princess Dis, a beautiful Dwarrowdam that Glain tried to subtly emulate in manners and tried to constantly teach Idunn to do the same, who was turned to talk to the two younger dwarrow at her side that could only be her sons. She had heard from Bodil that they were quite the pair of mischievous rascals thought other dwarrowdams had been giving them speculative looks as they grew older even though neither was yet of age for such things.

She always recoiled from such things but had not heard similar about them; while not one to judge, Idunn wondered if they reveled in the attention despite the general grossness of the implications of it. Despite that, She had never had the chance to meet them herself and she doubted they would care to meet her. She wasn’t anyone special; She was just a simple dwarrowdam that was raising a pony, a raven, and an owl. Just a dwarrowdam that knew what her Craft was and wanted to eventually have a shop of her own to share her passion with others.

~~

Runa had always gently said “you are kind and always offer help should it look like someone might need it even if it is a simple task. You go out of your way to help collect the herbs for Bodil, Oin, and I. You always buy an extra chunk of Erik’s favorite cheese that our ‘Amad can’t afford to get him and will spend your free time playing with him.”

Bodil had rather bluntly said ”Idunn, you make snap judgements based on seemingly innocuous things. if someone fails whatever test or judgement you make, you either ignore them as unimportant or uninteresting or if you decide they are a threat than you can lash out or snubbed them.” Idunn must have looked hurt by the assessment because Bodil continued “You have had a hard time. people have been cruel to you without you knowing why, You adapted to that to guard your heart and avoid wasting effort on those that won’t reciprocate.”

“Don’t dislike the part of you that knows you deserve niceness, Idunn.” Bodil urged giving her hand a gentle squeeze before adding “If someone is kind or treats you well, you would move mountains for them and set yourself alight to warm them. you also will listen to reason if your judgements are questioned and change your mind if the reason is sound. You also aren’t cruel about it all even if you don’t like someone, you are still kind or at least polite and only have lashed out when they hurt you first”

~~

The sounds around her feel loud and overwhelming. A loud woman’s laugh, one that rings false to her ears as if the one laughing is faking, fills the air even as the music played on instruments reaches a crescendo. She can tell her breathing is faster than what it should be. it was an unfortunate consequence of a run in late in the night with a crowd of older drunken dwarrows with a penchants for violent shoving games, something she had breathed not a word of especially when they had spoken so vilely toward her ‘Amad who was feeling ill again.

@uzbadyand